


Haunted

by Indig0



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Ghost josh, Human AU, Supernatural AU - Freeform, previously posted as a one-shot chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2020-10-28 01:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20769920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: When North decides to renovate an old house, she ends up with a roommate she didn't bargain for.  Josh was brutally murdered in the house 50 years ago.  Neither is willing to give up their home, but learning to coexist is surprisingly easy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TipsyEpsy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TipsyEpsy/gifts).

> The result of prompts by Epsy! Thanks for all your great ideas!

North had started learning basic repairs when the idiot landlord of her little rental house kept saying he was going to come by and get shit done, and then never did. Just another in a long list of men - people, really, but mostly men - who had disappointed her.

Through a mixture of YouTube videos and continuing education classes at the community college, she started with little things and worked her way up. How to fix a dripping faucet. How to change a fluorescent bulb. How to replace the weather strip under the door. How to stop the toilet seat from sliding around when she sat on it. How to get wasps out of the hole in the eaves without getting stung. How to unclog a drain. How to straighten the gate when she accidentally pulled it off the fence. How to change the air conditioner’s filter. How to paint a room without getting it all over. How to replace grout.

As a whole it all sounded daunting, but each thing wasn’t that hard, and soon she realized she could do just about anything the house required of her. And over time she realized she didn’t have to stay in this hole, she could get a place of her own and make it better.

All the fancy places were too expensive, so North looked for something a little lower-brow. She could fix it up, after all.

The house she found had been beautiful once, she could tell. The neighborhood was all but abandoned, and it wasn’t the nicest place to walk around, but the people didn’t seem… openly hostile. She was on nodding terms with the ones she’d seen, and she was firmly confident that she could kick anyone’s ass she needed to.

After clearing away the trash and broken furniture, North started repairing the drywall inside and patching up holes. The bones of the house were strong, at least. The doorways were beautifully arched. There was a fireplace in the living room. The bathroom was lined in pale green glass tiles once she got to scrubbing them clean, and it was a strong look, but she liked it. The hardwood floors gleamed once she re-varnished them, and she only needed to replace a few tiles in the kitchen and bathroom.

The walls needed some extra work. They were covered in graffiti. She started on the second floor and started stripping wallpaper and scrubbing walls. She hadn’t been able to get any history specific to this place, just that the area had been one of the wealthiest neighborhoods when it was built, but 50 years or so ago it had started going downhill. The walls were covered in words and crude pictures that made her blood boil and her stomach curdle. She got as much off as she could, then bought some paint. A lot of paint.

Everything she read said that it would take at least two coats of paint, but she figured with the amount of graffiti she was dealing with, it might take up to six.

Every room would be a different color, but first she needed to cover everything in something neutral. Off-white paint had been on sale, probably because it was boring and ugly, but it would be perfect for hiding the ugliness that couldn’t be scrubbed away.

As North moved through the house, singing along to whatever music she was playing that day, she sometimes thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A shadow, a flicker. Now and then she had to search the house because she could swear she’d seen something more solid. A cat maybe, or a bird. But she never heard anything.

It took weeks, but at last the walls were painted. She couldn’t see anything through the white paint, and she exhaled, stepping back.

“Thank you,” a voice sighed next to her.

Her head whipped around, and there was a tall, dark man standing next to her, surveying the living room’s built-in bookshelves. His clothes were covered in bullet holes and seeping blood that never seemed to fall to the floor.

“Shit!” North scrambled away and pulled the leatherman tool from her pocket. “Who the fuck are you!? What are you doing in my fucking house! Don’t get any closer, I swear I’ll stab you!”

The man’s shoulders hunched up, but he didn’t move. “Thanks. That’s… been hard to live with. Or, well, exist. Not necessarily live.”

“What the fuck are you doing here!” she shouted, kicking an empty paint can at him. Her blood went cold as it passed right through.

“My name is Josh,” he said softly. “I don’t mean any harm, I promise. I lived here fifty years ago - it was a nice neighborhood, a beautiful house. The neighbors didn’t like… well… my kind of people living here. So they… did something about it.”

She stood frozen, staring at him.

“I didn’t listen to their warnings, I’d always wanted a house like this. Someplace beautiful and safe. I could afford it, I had just made tenure at the university, I… I thought that would matter. More than how I looked.” His shoulders slumped for a moment, but then he straightened up again and looked her in the eye. “I bought this house. I paid it off in full, even though it drained my savings. I - I’m not leaving.”

North continued to stare at him, then she turned abruptly, grabbed her bag, and slammed the door behind her.

The sun was getting low when North stormed back in, slamming the door shut behind her again.

“Guess what, asshole!” she shouted. “I bought this shit-hole too, and I’ve been fixing it up for fucking months, so if you think you’re gonna drive me out, get ready for the fight of your life!”

Josh appeared in front of her, and she jumped a bit, but glared hard at him. He crossed his arms and glared back.

“Well I’m not going anywhere.“

“Why didn’t you show yourself before?” she sneered. “Too chicken?”

“I didn’t want to manifest with… all that around.” He glanced around at the white walls uncomfortably.

“How’d you know I wouldn’t put worse things on the walls?”

“I don’t know. I’m just hoping. But I appreciate you fixing what was there.”

“Like I’d leave that filth on my walls - makes me sick,” she growled.

He smiled a little. “Me too.”

North pulled out a big can of salt and a small plastic rosary from her bag. “I came prepared, so don’t try anything.”

His smile grew. “I was actually raised Catholic, so I’m quite familiar with the rosary. …And my doctor did tell me to eat less sodium at my last visit, but I don’t think that’s a problem anymore.”

“Shut up.” She poured just a bit of salt into her hand and threw it at his feet. He looked down, then back up at her.

“I’m not a slug.”

“Do you go on murderous rampages when the sun goes down?”

He chuckled. “I’m a pacifist, actually. Always have been.”

“Oh God, so are you the type to moan and rattle chains or something dumb like that?” she groaned. “Or just knock stuff over? Or, like, build towers out of the dining room chairs?”

“No!” He laughed.

“So you’re gonna be an asshole about it and just not tell me what you’re planning?” she glared at him.

“Mostly, I was hoping to read.”

She stared.

“I noticed you have a few books. They’re not my usual genre, but I’d like to take a look.” He paused. “If you don’t mind.”

“You’ll… leave me alone if I let you read my books?”

“As long as you don’t try to make me leave.”

“Hypothetically, how could I make you leave?”

He smiled a little, but didn’t answer.

“…Okay, ground rules.” She opened the box of books that was still sitting in the middle of the floor. “You stay out of whatever room I’m in. You don’t run up the electric bill. You don’t bother me.”

“That sounds fair. …And in return, you don’t bother me.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure not to invite the exorcist to the housewarming party.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, we’ll give this a one-week trial period.”

“All right.”

“Good. I’m North, now fuck off, and if you pull any evil ghost shit, I swear I’ll kick your ass back to hell.” She stalked out of the room and up the stairs.

North continued painting. She hoped to annoy Josh with bright colors - a deep orange, a sapphire blue, a dramatic fuchsia, but he actually commented one night that it looked nice. …Which of course it did, the house looked breathtaking. She slowly began filling it with decent furniture that she reupholstered and refinished. She went browsing the antique shops for stained glass to put in some of the windows. The week passed uneventfully, and Josh didn’t bother her except once to say that someone had been watching the house from across the street, but he doubted they’d be back. When she asked why, he said most people were ashamed of wetting their pants out of sheer terror.

So maybe he wasn’t completely useless.

“You’re really good at this,” she heard from the next room one morning.

“Surprised?”

“Just impressed.”

She noticed that he was getting through her box of books, because whenever he finished one he’d place it on the shelf. One day she brought home another box of books.

“Hey nerd-ghost, somebody was giving these away for free, they’re probably all trash,” she called, thunking them down in the living room.

“Thank you,” came the pleased reply from the dining room.

She looked over a while later and saw Josh’s hazy form lying on the couch, flipping pages now and then, and came to lean in the doorway.

“Any good?”

He jumped a little and looked up. “It’s - again, not my usual preference, but I haven’t had anything to read in fifty years.”

“So what’s your ‘usual preference?’”

“I’m very interested in history, mythology, politics… Historical fiction was always a guilty pleasure of mine, even if it’s not always accurate. I wish I could catch up on the last fifty years as well, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

North just nodded and went to heat up some leftovers.

The following day she was gone for a few hours, and came back with two bulging bags that she dropped next to the box of books.

“Hey,” she called. “C’mere a minute.”

Josh appeared in the doorway and looked at her curiously.

“Come on.”

“I - that would break the terms of our agreement.”

“So break ‘em, I’m saying it’s fine, come look at these.”

He hesitated, but crossed the threshold and walked over to her gingerly.

“So I hit all the thrift stores in town and picked up a bunch of historical shit. A few more modern things too, probably not great, but it’s something.”

His form wavered, and he stared at her. “You… got those for me?”

She made a face. “For a professor, you’re kind of an idiot. The last box was for you too, I just didn’t know what you liked.”

A smile was slowly growing on his face. “North… thank you.”

“Yeah, well… as far as ghost roommates go, you’re okay. Even if you don’t pay rent. You’re damn good at security, though. And I appreciate you not going all poltergeist on me.”

“I appreciate you not giving me a reason to,” Josh said softly, smiling. “It’s good to have a friend for a change.”

North made a face and walked over to lounge in a chair so she didn’t have to acknowledge how warm that made her feel. “Whatever. …So what part of history’s your favorite, anyway?”

Josh grinned, sitting across from her and launching into a long-winded rant about how various regions had influenced each other, and evidence of early civilizations traveling great distances. The kind of thing that would usually bore her out of her mind. He was so into it, though, that she found herself drawn into his enthusiasm.

They talked more and more over the following weeks as she finished the inside of the house and started on the outside. Her neighbors started asking about the improvements she’d made, and if she could help with their houses. Their house - hers and Josh’s, because neither was willing to give it up - was beautiful and safe again, as they’d both hoped for, and that would spread out into the community around them.


	2. Housewarming

“You don’t mind? It won’t be anything big, just a few friends.” North reminded herself for the fourth time that she lived here, she didn’t need to apologize for… well, living here.

“It’s your house too,” Josh said, smiling slightly. “I’ll stay out of your way for the night.”

“Yeah… They’re all great, but I don’t know how a ghost would go over with them. We won’t get too loud, though.”

Josh laughed. “Don’t worry. Have fun. …Unless you’re lying about having friends.” His soft smile sharpened.

“Shut up Josh, I have friends!”

“Whatever you say, North.”

“I do! You’ll see!”

“I’m sure I will.”

When the night of the housewarming party came, Josh assured North he’d be perfectly happy in the attic with a stack of books and puzzles. She’d cleaned up and bought some refreshments, but most of her friends were bringing snacks too. The first knock on the door was Echo and Ripple, who brought some cheese and crackers, and a box of teas.

“I think Rupert’s trapped in his car with Ralph,” Echo said as she set the tea down.

“What do you mean?” North asked.

Ripple nodded out the door to the old gray car sitting outside. North rolled her eyes and stalked out.

“Hey, you coming in, or what?”

Rupert got out quickly, and helped Ralph with the door that always stuck. “Didn’t want to be the first one,” he mumbled. He brought spinach artichoke dip and a bird feeder. Ralph followed, nearly dropping his lavender cookies and herb planting kit three times on the way in.

Another car pulled up just as she got back to the house, and Markus, Simon, and Lucy got out. Simon and Lucy lived a few blocks from each other, and Markus lived all the way on the other side of town, but he usually drove when they went somewhere together.

“The walk’s a little uneven, watch your step,” North called. “It’s on my list of things to get fixed.”

“It’s not too bad,” Lucy said, keeping one hand on Simon’s arm and holding her cane in the other.

“North, this place is beautiful,” Markus said as he walked up behind the other two. “I can tell you’ve put a lot of work into it!”

“Well, it was nice to begin with. I just brought out what was there before.” She glanced up at the attic window before heading inside. No sign of her roommate, as expected.

Simon’s crab rangoon dip was a hit, and Lucy’s bean salad was a welcome hint of acid in the spread, while Markus’s scones were eaten up quickly. Markus also brought a painting of a face his father had done that she’d always liked, and Lucy brought a lamp with a beautiful stained glass shade. Simon gave her a set of nice kitchen knives, which made everyone else groan.

“You want us t-to be more ghost stories in here?” Ralph complained to Simon.

“This place already has a creepy vibe,” Rupert commented.

“Hey, c’mon, creepy?” North scoffed. “You should’ve seen it before. This place is beautiful!”

“We were looking at some old pictures… looks like it was… hard to sell,” Ripple said, looking around.

“People are just wusses, there’s nothing wrong with this house.”

“I’m glad you got to know your neighbors,” Markus said neutrally.

“B-but do you see any ghosts here?” Ralph persisted.

“What? No, don’t be ridiculous. Why?”

“There was apparently a really nasty murder here, around 50 years ago,” Rupert said. “Ralph was telling me about it, and I looked it up. An old college professor was attacked by… pretty much the whole neighborhood, it sounds like.”

“That’s enough to turn anyone vengeful,” Echo murmured.

“Nobody’s vengeful,” North snapped, then paused. “You guys don’t believe that kind of shit, do you?”

“It’d be pretty awful to be stuck haunting the site of your death for all eternity,” Simon murmured, looking around. “I think about that sometimes.”

“Morbid. Thanks. Maybe think about that kind of thing on your own time, weirdo.”

“No, but especially if it was a violent death like that,” Echo agreed. “I’d be pissed, too.”

“I mean sure, same,” North said with a shrug. “Let the fuckers who did it get what they had coming to ‘em.” She noticed the lights dim slightly and cleared her throat. “Hey, can you help me hang the painting while you’re all here?”

Markus, Simon, and Ralph came with her to the hall, where she tried it in a few different positions before hammering the nail, and then they stood back to look. She adjusted it a few times.

“It-it looks crooked,” Ralph muttered, frowning.

“It looks fine to me -”

A shriek came from the other room, and North pushed past the other three and sprinted back. Echo, Ripple, and Rupert were pressed against the wall, while Lucy was getting up from her chair on the other side of the room.

“No need to worry, everyone’s okay,” she said, surprisingly calmly.

Josh was there, staring down the three against the wall.

“What the hell, I thought you were gonna stay upstairs!” North complained, swiping at his shoulder. “You three settle down, it’s fine.” She waved at Ripple, Echo, and Rupert, and went to stand in front of Josh. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“I - I… they keep… they keep talking about me.” His voice was distant and hard.

“Well, they’re gonna stop that now.” She cast a glare over her shoulder at her wide-eyed friends, and then one over at Ralph, Simon, and Markus in the other doorway.

“I wasn’t… I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to… to be a threat.”

“You’re not.”

“I…” Josh blinked, seeming to come back to himself a little, and looked around. His face fell, and he flickered.

“Okay, so this is Josh,” North sighed, turning to the others. “My roommate, I guess. It’s his house too. He’s kind of a nerd. Best roommate I’ve ever had - sorry, Simon. Pretty good company, too. Not gonna go Poltergeist on anybody, that’s not his thing.”

“So - so wait, the story was about him!?” Rupert hissed, eyes darting back and forth between her and Josh.

“Yeah, but he’s okay.” She glanced at him - he wasn’t quite okay. “…Anybody got a problem with him?” she asked, voice lowering dangerously.

“North, don’t,” he murmured, eyes on the ground.

“Shut up, Josh. Well?” She looked around, challenging each of them. The looks she got in return were skeptical, nervous…

“How much can you… interact with things?” Lucy asked, more curious than afraid.

“I… can move paper easily,” Josh mumbled. “Heavier things if I try hard. I couldn’t murder anyone, I wouldn’t throw things around.”

“But can you sit in chairs?” Lucy continued. “Do you fall through?”

“I don’t fall through. It’s - kind of like the memory of the laws of physics - I’m not entirely sure why. I suppose I could fall through a chair if I… tried,” Josh admitted.

“Could you fall through the ground?” Ripple asked cautiously.

“Don’t be stupid!” Echo elbowed her.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I want to try.” Josh looked around uneasily.

“How old… were you?” Simon asked.

“Twenty-nine.” He was slowly relaxing.

“Did you really make tenure by then?” Markus laughed a little. “Honestly, that’s the most surprising part.”

“I - yes, just before I bought the house. It took ten years.”

“Why were you killed?” Ralph breathed. Simon squeezed his arm and shook his head.

Josh sighed. “My neighbors didn’t want someone like me in the neighborhood. They tried to scare me off, but I… I wanted to stay in this house, I loved the architecture, the area, my job… Everything was perfect for a few months, until a group broke in and shot me full of holes.”

“…But he made sure nobody else got his house - until I showed up.” North grinned sidelong at him.

“You were very persistent.” He smiled back weakly.

“So are you staying now, or what? We’ve got some card games you could handle, if you don’t mind watching the rest of us eat.”

Josh glanced around. The others still seemed a little apprehensive, but they seemed okay with the idea.

“I could stay for one round,” he said, careful to keep his voice neutral.

By the eighth round, he was laughing harder than he had in ages, and everyone else was laughing with him. They didn’t seem to mind that he was intangible. By the end of the night he’d been invited to three other gatherings, which he had to decline since he couldn’t leave the house.

“We’ll work on that,” North promised. “See if you can come with me in a brick or something.”

“Let me know,” Simon said as they left. “You’d love the history museum, and I haven’t been in years.”

“So? You okay with all that?” North asked after she closed the door.

“I - yes,” Josh said quietly. “I didn’t expect them to be so… welcoming.”

“Hard to say,” North said with a shrug. “They’re okay, though. I wouldn’t hang out with ‘em otherwise.”

“Thanks for… letting me join in.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d want to, but you’re kinda a social butterfly, aren’t you?”

Josh blushed and looked away. “Not at all! I mean, I never was before. I just - I haven’t had anyone to talk to in so long, much less a whole group. And they weren’t… horrified, they were just curious.”

“Yeah. …And I would’ve kicked their asses if they were jerks.”

“That’s absolutely not -”

“Kicked their asses, and you couldn’t’ve stopped me.” North looked around. “…Well, I’m gonna just leave this mess for tomorrow. It’s not bad, anyway.”

“Oh -”

“And by the way, good thing you didn’t lay down money on me not having friends.”

“I have to concede, you were right,” he chuckled.

“Yep. Now we both do.”

A smile grew on his face. “I - do you think so?”

“Were you even paying attention!? Of course!”

“…Thank you for… for being so supportive.”

“Nah, you didn’t need me. You were fine on your own.”

“Thank you, though.”

“Night, Josh.” She grinned at him as she headed upstairs.

“…Goodnight, North.”


	3. Brick

“What happens if you get too far away?” North asked. “Do you disappear? Start going invisible? Forget who you are?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out,” Josh muttered.

“Okay, well let me know if it starts getting weird,” North said, slipping the crumbling brick from the basement into her bag. Josh nodded, and followed her out to the porch. Then down the path. He paused for a second before stepping out onto the sidewalk, staying close to her.

“So far, so good.”

“Good, let’s go.”

They walked around the block, North walking purposefully with a quick stride and Josh keeping up despite looking around at everything.

“It’s so different! These all used to be very nice homes… There was a little playground on the corner, there were children there every time I passed it. There used to be a big white dog who lived here, he barked at me every day. This family must have had at least six children - six whom I saw regularly, anyway. The old lady who lived over there had beautiful roses, she was always out taking care of them.” Josh fidgeted as he spoke, eyes darting around now and then.

“Mm-hm. You good?”

“I - yes. I’m fine, just… nervous.”

“I guess that’s fair, who knows what’ll happen. The brick’s working, though!”

“It may just be the proximity to the house.”

“Huh… What if we went across town? Or took a trip to Australia or something?”

He blinked. “I… always hoped I’d get the chance to travel. Short trips in the summer, then I thought I could retire and just be nomadic for the rest of my life, seeing all the places I’d read about.”

North gave him a sidelong glance. “Nerd. But we could try it.”

When they got back to the house, she set the brick in the passenger seat of her car and drove off. Josh peered out at the world.

“If the house got torn down, would you be… split apart?”

He grimaced. “I don’t know. Bits of the house have fallen off, and quite a bit is gone… It takes effort for me to stay with the brick, so I think it would take effort for me to go with… another piece.”

She nodded slowly, getting on the highway. “So… you’d stay with the land?”

“I… again, I’m not sure. I guess I’ll have to find out some day, unless I pass on before then.”

“That - hm.” North frowned. “I think that would be worse. Staying, I mean.”

“I agree. Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Anything look familiar?”

“It does, in a surreal way. I used to come this way to work every day.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Of course everything’s much more… developed now. Some of the buildings are the same, though.”

“Hey, I heard the historical society’s trying to save the old dairy processing plant over there. The city says it’s an eyesore, they want to knock it down and build an apartment building.”

Josh squinted at it. “Good. It’s been an eyesore for over 50 years, it’s about time somebody knocked it down.”

North snorted. “I figured you’d be all for saving the past.”

“Not everything needs to be saved. It’s not useful, it’s not… I mean, it’s historic, but it’s not really… historically significant. I’m sure it’s a drain on funds, not to mention being potentially dangerous. I’m all for historical preservation, but not if it’s just going to be something people glance at as they drive by.”

“You should find a way to get into politics, that’s exactly the kind of thinking we need around here,” North muttered. “Nobody’s willing to do anything useful.”

“I don’t think that would be feasible. …Besides, I find politics fascinating, but I’m not sure I’m cut out to participate. Even when I was alive.”

“You’re way more alive than a lot of people who make these decisions.” North rolled her eyes as she got off the highway.

“Are… are we going to the university?” Josh asked, leaning forward.

“Yeah, I thought it’d be cool. Let me know if you wanna leave. I know it’s changed a lot in 50 years.”

Josh stared out at the gates, the buildings, the columns on the hill, the manicured lawn, the crumbling dorm buildings. “It’s all different,” he murmured. “When I taught… those columns were attached to the Languages building. Newnam Hall.”

“I think… there was a fire. About 40 years ago. Just the columns survived.”

“The gates are the same, but they’ve been cleaned up a lot. And… some of the buildings are in the same places. Maybe some were just… just remodeled.”

She glanced over at him - he was starting to get hazy. “Josh? You good? Wanna leave?”

“No, I - I’m fine. I just… it’s surreal.”

“Yeah… Do you wanna get out and look at anything?”

“No,” he said immediately. “…No, I… I don’t need to.”

“Okay. Anything nearby that’s worth seeing?”

“Um… there was a little coffee house on 6th street…”

“It probably won’t be there anymore,” North warned, turning out of campus.

“I know. Oh - no, we don’t have to go.”

“It’s not far out of the way. …Okay, any of this look familiar?”

“Actually… yes! I mean, not completely, but… I recognize it!” Josh smiled faintly as he looked around. “I can’t believe these places are still open. I got my hair cut there once, they did a terrible job! Oh, that used to be a book store, I liked sitting there on rainy days… There! Coffee, just a plain sign, I don’t think it ever even had a name, and barely any room to sit down. Just Coffee. It was good.”

North slowed. “Wanna go in?”

“Oh, no. Definitely not. No. I - I’d rather not.” He inhaled deeply.

“Can you smell it?”

“A little. Maybe - just the molecules in the air mingling with… me? I’m not sure, but I like the smell.”

“I could brew some coffee in the mornings if you want,” North offered when they got back on the highway.

“You don’t have to do that, it’d be a waste. You never drink coffee.”

“Not much of one, and I hear coffee grounds are good for plants.”

Josh smiled, looking out the window. “Maybe… once in a while, then. I do miss the smell.”


	4. Atmosphere

It took North a while to figure out just how much Josh was connected to the house. When she’d first bought the place she’d put the feelings of nervousness, anticipation, worry down to being the new homeowner of a great hulking ruin. She’d taken the pride and happiness as her own. She’d taken the warmth and contentment as natural after fixing up the house and making friends with her weird ghost roommate, and after spending more time with him she’d realized it wasn’t just her, it was him she was feeling. Ghost or human, sometimes you had a good day, sometimes you had a bad day.

Waking up feeling like she was dying was new, though. She’d been fine the day before, everything had been pretty calm. She groaned as she sat up, trying to figure out what was wrong. Was she sick? …No. Not enough to feel this bad, anyway. Had she had a nightmare? That was… closer. There was a nebulous feeling of dread, of helplessness, of… deep sorrow. That didn’t match what she felt like when she was feeling down.

North didn’t pay a lot of attention to dates, but after a moment she made the connection. She pulled on some clothes and dragged herself downstairs.

“Hey. Josh? Where are you?”

“Here,” he whispered behind her.

She jumped a little. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry. I - I’m not great company today.”

“I can feel it,” she muttered, leaning into him. “Sorry, I should’ve kept track of the days better.”

“It’s not your fault. …I didn’t realize it affected you so much.” He looked up guiltily, and North felt a jab in the heart.

“Don’t worry about it, weirdo. Uh… I don’t know… would it help to talk about it or anything? I know we talked a little in the beginning, but…”

“I don’t know. It isn’t your problem, though. Or it shouldn’t be… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be doing this to you. Uh - I’m not sure I can… do anything about it at the moment. If - I don’t want to kick you out, but… you might be better-off if you… spent the day out of the house today,” he mumbled.

North frowned, ready to fight, but she paused. “…Come with me.”

“What?”

“What good’s it gonna do you sitting here stewing in your misery? Let’s get out of here for a while, I’ll take the brick.”

“I… I don’t…”

“If you hate it, I’ll bring you back,” she offered. “And maybe when we’re out of the house, I won’t feel like I died along with you.”

His face fell. “God, North, I didn’t want you to -”

“I know. I’m not blaming you, it’s fine. But really, will you give it a try? I won’t force you if you’re really that against it, but give it a chance for an hour or so at least.”

He wavered. “…I guess. But if it gets too strong, you can always walk away.”

She grinned tightly. “I know. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“How was that book on Russian history you were reading?” North asked, trying desperately to make small talk. The feelings in the car had weakened, but not gone away completely.

“It’s interesting,” Josh muttered, looking out the window. “A little dry.”

“So boring, then?”

He sighed. “The subject matter’s very interesting. The writing style is… pretty dull.”

“Oh.”

She couldn’t think of anything else to say - she didn’t want to delve into the heavy stuff while they were driving. They left the city limits in silence. By the time North pulled into the forested park, the mood in the car was sorrowful and uncertain. The two got out, and North took a deep breath.

“I’ve never been out here…”

“I haven’t been for a while, but there’s plenty of open space, lots of trees, it’s on the river… maybe it’ll help to get some air.”

“It doesn’t really affect me like that,” Josh mumbled.

“Change of scenery, then. Come on, we didn’t come here for the parking lot.”

North led the way down a path through the trees. It was early enough that there wasn’t anyone else there yet, and after a while they went out to sit at a picnic table overlooking the river. For a while they just watched the water.

“I… I though I could break through… everything I was up against,” Josh finally whispered. “I thought if I worked hard enough, if I was smart enough… I’d succeed, you know? And I just ended up… dead.”

“You know it wasn’t your fault,” North murmured.

“Maybe not, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Things… things have gotten better.”

“Have they?”

“Yeah. …I mean, they’re still not great. There’s a long way to go. I guess everything still sucks, but it’s better than it was.”

“Well it couldn’t get much worse,” he sighed.

She waved her fingers gently through his hand.

“I just - no one cared,” he finally mumbled. “I was… brutally murdered in my own home, I didn’t show up for work, and the university filed a complaint against me. They were going to take disciplinary action for… for abandoning my post. I was - I was so enthusiastic about the job, and no one thought to check on me.”

North was silent for a long moment, frowning. “…People are assholes,” she finally proclaimed.

“They’re not, though. I… still believe people are fundamentally good, but…”

“Not those people.”

“They were just… raised that way.”

“Bullshit, they were too lazy to change. They didn’t care, you’re right, because they were assholes. I’d’ve checked on you, you know that, right? If I’d… been born?”

He chuckled humorlessly. “It’s easy to say that, but again, you were raised this way. If you’d been around 50 years ago… it would have been different.”

“I don’t - listen, I’m not gonna argue hypotheticals with you all day.” She waved a hand through his shoulder. “I’m here right now, and I care about you. Now, before, and… and in the future, got it? I don’t care about those idiots who couldn’t pull their heads out of their asses to see they were raised wrong. You’re a good guy. You’re a good roommate, the best I’ve ever had. …You’re a good friend.”

“…Not when I make you miserable without even trying,” he muttered.

“I can’t push you into the river, so shut up,” she growled. “I don’t care. I’m here for you.”

“…I’ll be more pleasant company tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’ll be around tomorrow, too. …Doesn’t mean I’ll leave you today.”

“I don’t want you to hurt.”

“I don’t want you to either. …And I can’t do anything about that, but I can at least stick it out with you.”

Josh was silent for a minute, then let out a shaky laugh, his shoulders drooping. “I… I wish I wasn’t so incorporeal.”

“Can’t do anything about that.” North pushed through him without meeting any resistance. “Can you - you know like when you pick up a book, can you do that with… this?”

“I… maybe.” He offered a hand, and her put hers over it. Concentrating hard, he lightly pressed his palm to hers.

North shivered. “I felt that! Wow!”

“I - I’ll work on that!” He grinned, shaky but hopeful. “It’s… does it feel… normal?”

“You mean like… like my hand would? No. But it’s you.” She smiled back. “Tingly. Pressure, but like… a strong wind blowing.” His face fell a little, and she put her hand through his again. “It’s good, Josh. It’s you.”

“I can work on it.”

“Okay. That’d be good to be able to do again.”

His smile got a little stronger, and he raised his hand up enough to rest on hers - not quite solid, but definitely there. “Thanks, North.”

“You doing any better? It’s been better for me since we left home.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s - it’s not gone, but… it’s better than it was. Thank you.”

She tried squeezing his thumb, and passed through. “No problem. Like I said, I’m here for you.”

“That… means a lot.”


	5. Possession

“North, look!”

She looked up and grinned. Josh had a pill bug in his hand.

“That’s awesome - where’d you get that?”

“It was under that rock outside the back door!”

“So you picked up a rock and a bug? Nice!” North nodded in approval.

“I don’t even feel like I’m going to drop it! …Hold on, let me put it back outside.” He ran off, and North snickered a little.

“That cat’s been coming around, have you seen it lately?” North asked when he came back. “Think it’d let you pet it?”

“I - I don’t know, I make animals nervous. …Well, birds and mammals anyway.”

“That’s… that’s ghost propaganda.” North’s hand passed straight through his shoulder. “Make yourself solid so I can push you. You’re just weird to them, they need time to get used to you. Feed it, that’s how everybody else make animals like them.” She tried again and pushed him back a couple inches.

“I think in this case the stories are correct.”

“They’re not, you’re just being lazy,” North muttered. “She’s scared because you don’t smell like anything and she can’t rub on you, that’s all.”

“Do you think so?”

“Sure!” She reached out slowly, giving him time to solidify before she put a hand on his shoulder. He felt - not quite like a human, but more real than his first few attempts. “You’ll be picking up cats and shit in no time.”

Josh’s small smile widened, and he suddenly stepped in to wrap his arms around her.

This was new. …It was nice. He still didn’t feel like a human, North wasn’t sure what he felt like, but she hugged him back tightly.

Something shifted, and North stumbled forward. She was alone in the room.

“Josh? What happened?”

“North? Where -”

She froze, then lurched forward, barely catching herself on a chair.

“What the hell!?”

“What’s going on?”

North gripped the chair tightly. “Okay.” Her other hand came up, and she forced it down. “Stop! Stop.” Her whole body stiffened. “Can you just… fucking stop for a minute!?”

“Sorry, I - what’s happening?”

She clamped her mouth shut, grinding her teeth together. After a moment she took a shaky step. “I - let me walk!”

“I’m sorry, I’m trying, I don’t know what happened! How -”

“I don’t know, but apparently you’re possessing me like some kind of fucking… meat puppet!” She felt the flinch that caused, but couldn’t bring herself to soften right now.

“I’m not trying to-”

“I know,” she snapped, and forced herself to take a deep breath. He fought against it for a split second, then eased into the second one. “Just… don’t do anything for a minute or I’ll - we’ll - fall on my face.”

Slowly, awkwardly, she made her way across the room. Josh was trying to relax, she could tell, but it was a struggle. It didn’t help that he had the memory of longer legs and a different center of gravity. Finally she flopped gracelessly on the couch. She could feel her nerves vibrating - that was Josh. Not that she wasn’t shocked to her core, but… she could feel the difference.

“Okay. Just - we’re gonna breathe for a minute. We’re gonna quit panicking.”

“I’ve never possessed anyone before - North, I swear I didn’t mean to do this.”

“I know that, dumbass.” She took a slow breath, fighting against his quick, uneven ones. “Take it easy.”

“I swear, I’ll never touch you again if I get out of here.”

“Um, first off, you’re getting out. No ‘if’ about it. We’re not living like this for the rest of my life. And second, you’re an idiot.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know.”

“No, but -”

It was bizarre to fight against her own body, but she cut him off. “No, listen. I know. It’s fucking weird, and you’re gonna get out of me, and we’re gonna figure out how this works so you can control it.”

“I don’t want to control it, I want to get out of here!”

“Yeah, I said control _it_, not _me_. I’m still in charge in this body, and right now we’re sitting and breathing, because if we try to pace we’re gonna fall over. I know you want to. Not happening.”

“Sorry, I just - I don’t know what to do.”

North grabbed a throw pillow. “Squeeze this and let’s think.” Her hands instantly tightened around it, hugging it to her body, rubbing the fabric. “…Can you feel it?”

“I can,” Josh breathed.

North smiled a little. “Focus on that. What else can you feel that you couldn’t before?”

“I - the couch is soft, it’s not just a surface holding me. I smell the toast you made for breakfast. I can taste it a little, too! Everything’s… brighter. I didn’t realize I was seeing things differently.”

“Really?”

Her head nodded once. “I guess… I forgot how the world looked. It’s been dim and dull since… since I died. But… the house looks amazing. You did a great job with it.”

“Of course,” she scoffed lightly.

“You make the world so much better,” he murmured.

She didn’t respond, but they were both suddenly aware of a faint insecurity.

“You do too,” she mumbled before it could grow, and she hugged herself. “I mean you’re a complete nerd, and even more neurotic than I realized, but I’m pretty used to you now and I don’t know what I’d do without you at this point.”

Warmth blossomed in the place of uncertainty, and it was his but it was hers also. Her arms tightened around her a little.

“Any idea how to fix this? …Because like I said, it’s great having you here, but… I kind of like having a little privacy in my own body.”

“I… I’ll give it a try.”

Her body twitched, and twisted a little. It jerked to the side, and she would have fallen off the couch if she hadn’t caught herself.

“Nope, try something else.”

“Sorry. I do have another idea, hold on… Hm.” Her right hand came up slowly, and awkwardly slid over her left hand, squeezing it.

North watched this for a moment. “…Is that it?”

“I… I thought it would be… at least a little unsettling for you at this point?”

She sighed loudly and twisted her left hand to clasp her right hand. “Well you’re an idiot, then. You thought I’d just… kick you out because I didn’t want you touching me?”

“Ordinarily no, but right now…”

“You’re kind of clueless,” she interrupted. “Look, you’re touching me. Big deal.” She squeezed her hand again, poked her cheek, grabbed her hair and tugged on it lightly. “I can feel what you’re feeling more than usual. Can you feel me too?”

“I’m trying to give you some privacy,” he muttered.

“Well I appreciate it. …But -”

“…But what if I didn’t, let me - no, I’ll try that,” he cut her off hurriedly.

She didn’t feel anything different, other than maybe a slight relaxation.

“You… it doesn’t bother you?”

“I mean, it kind of does… but now that we’re not falling all over the place, it’s better.”

“We still need to separate, though.”

“Oh, for sure.”

They leaned back and looked at the ceiling. The cracks had been patched and painted over, and it was good as new.

“You’re so calm.”

“I think… it’s because you were freaking out so much. And I could tell it was you more than me, it just felt like you. If you’d been okay with it, I would’ve totally flipped out.”

“Well I… appreciate it.”

“I know.”

“I - Oh. I was clinging to you. I thought I was trying to pull away.”

“You weren’t?”

“No. That… must have been an automatic response.”

“Well like I said, you were pretty scared. Not that I blame you, I was scared too.”

“That’s a good point to focus on, actually. Hold on, let me…”

There was a jolt, and North gasped. She was alone. “Josh?”

At first there was no answer, but after a moment he faded into view, looking down at himself.

“Shit, what’d you do? It was like…”

“Like peeling… a scab.”

“Gross, I was gonna say an orange. Or like a zipper. …But yeah.”

He smiled faintly. “Well I won’t try that again.”

“We'll see. But we're good for now.” She put her hand through his a few times before he reluctantly solidified it enough that hers could rest on it. “Could you try to possess something else? Without… another person in it?”

“Like what, a dead body?”

“If you bring a dead body into this house, I’m kicking you out. I don’t even care. And I’m absolutely not touching a dead body. But you could be a creepy doll ghost or something.”

Josh frowned. “I don’t want to be a creepy doll ghost.”

“Well it’s something to think about. …But you’re okay like this, too.” She squeezed his hand, and after a moment he squeezed back.

“I don’t think I could possess an inanimate object… not easily, anyway. I think my… my spirit remembers being tied to a body, so it just… latched on.”

“That does make sense. Well I’ll be ready next time. You know how to get out now.”

“I have to admit… it was nice to experience things the way you do.”

North shrugged, getting up and stretching. “It was weird. But yeah, if you want to get a little more from the world once in a while, I’d be up for it.”

“Just not… too often. I’m not trying to take over your body.”

“We both know I’d kick your ass, even if we were in the same body.”

Josh laughed. “I know. You’d find a way.”

“…But no, I trust you.”

“Thank you. I - I trust you too, and I’ll make sure I’m… worthy of your trust.”

“You are,” she said with a shrug and a smile. “Don’t worry about it.”


	6. Doll

“What the – Ralph, where the fuck did this come from?”

Ralph shrugged. “The store. I – I found it… I don’t remember. Oh! Somebody was throwing it out, I found it in the trash. And, and somebody bought it, but then… a few days later I found it again outside the shop when I opened in the morning, so.” He shrugged again. He never quite met her eyes, but he never really met anyone’s eyes.

“And… and why… did you bring it here?”

“Oh, you told Simon Josh wanted an old doll, he told me. And… this one, um… it’s not so happy now, but I looked it up, it looked happy when it was new.” He pulled out his phone and poked at it a bit, then showed a picture of a happy clown doll from the 1960s.

“That’s, uh… that’s sure a doll,” North muttered.

“It’s… seen some hard times,” Josh added carefully. He passed a hand through it and froze.

The doll’s face was smashed in a bit, and the paint on his face had smeared to give him a slightly sinister expression. Most of his hair had been ripped off, and his head tilted slightly to the side.

“Listen Ralph, that was nice of you, but –“

“We can’t keep this here,” Josh interrupted.

“Simon said –“

“Simon didn’t know what he was talking about," North said. "Sorry, Ralph. This –“

“You should destroy it.”

Ralph looked at Josh, startled. “Destroy it…?”

“Burn it, probably. I don’t know. But it needs to leave, and it won’t do anyone else any good either.”

“It was a nice thought,” North offered.

“No, listen, as soon as you can. This isn’t something you want. And it can’t be here.”

“S-sorry,” Ralph mumbled, letting the clown doll drop back into the bag and clutching it close. Josh winced.

“Don’t… try not to touch it too much.”

Ralph’s face fell as he slowly extended the doll away from himself. “Is it… that bad?”

“I’m afraid so.” Josh paused, then looked at North. “We should make sure it… gets taken care of.”

“What?”

“Not on our land. That park you took me to, maybe? Out of the city?"

North glanced at the bag, then sighed. “Fine. Ralph, you got time?”

Ralph’s eyes darted between the two nervously. “I… I… okay…”

The three headed out across town and out of the city.

“It’s a nice place, it’s quiet out there,” North assured Ralph, who was fidgeting in the back seat. Josh had offered him the front, but he’d insisted that the back was better.

“Is there… a… a… ghost ritual?” Ralph whispered.

“Um – no. I don’t think so. I don’t really know anything about it, I just… It needs to be destroyed,” Josh said.

“Mm.” Ralph eyed the shape in the bag. “I… felt bad for it.”

“I imagine it’s easy to feel sentimental about a lot of antiques,” Josh murmured.

“Its eyes looked… I don’t know.”

North turned off the highway. “A lot of times I can… feel how Josh is feeling, especially if it’s something strong. Do you feel anything like that?”

“Hm… what it’s feeling? No. No, but… but it’s a little like it’s watching what I do sometimes. And I’m… nervous, but I don’t think it’s nervous, just me.”

“Ralph, you’re a horror movie waiting to happen,” North sighed, shaking her head. She parked at a picnic area. “C’mon, help me gather wood."

The two built a fire in one of the barbecue grills, leaving the doll propped up against the base. It slipped down and fell to its side when Ralph put down an armload of wood, and he cringed back from it.

“Nnnnn, I don’t know about this, I don’t know,” he whispered.

“We’ll take care of it,” Josh muttered, trying to be calm. It made him nervous, too.

North got a good blaze going before grabbing the bag by the handles.

“Ah – take it out, I want my bag!” Ralph protested.

“I’ll get you a new one,” North growled, and tossed it carefully right into the fire. They all drew back from the cloud of sparks that hissed upwards. The fire was momentarily smothered, but quickly caught the bag. The soft material singed and crackled, and burned away to reveal the plastic face beneath.

“Do we have to watch?” Ralph whispered, squinting at it.

“Definitely not,” Josh muttered.

“God, Ralph, why would you pick up something like that? How are you still alive?” North hissed as they all turned away from it.

Ralph shrugged uncomfortably. “Don’t know.”

“So number one, don’t bring home creepy shit. If it shows up again, you find yourself an exorcist or something, got it?”

He nodded unhappily.

“And Simon needs to learn to keep his fucking mouth shut, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“He obviously got the idea somewhere,” Josh pointed out, eyeing her.

“Yeah, well he shouldn’t read so far into things! You’re all idiots.” She peeked over her shoulder. Half the clown’s face had melted away, but its one remaining eye was staring at her. “Gah! Gross.”


	7. Stalking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Some creepy asshole starts stalking North. At first she puts the guy in his place by beating the shit out of him, but things escalate because now the creep considers it more personal. Josh notices she seems uneasy, but she shrugs it off, all the while buying pepper spray, researching self-defense techniques, going to the police... The guy eventually breaks in. BIG MISTAKE.  
(prompt from Epsy)

“Are you okay?” Josh asked. North kept getting up, walking around, sitting down somewhere else. She’d been scowling since she got home.

“Fine!” she snapped. He watched her for a moment. “…I said I’m fine. There was a creep at work, but I put him in his place. It’s fine now.”

Josh frowned and walked over. “What did he say to you? He didn’t - what did he do?”

“That fucker’s pathetic, I beat his ass out back and he crawled off. He won’t be back.”

“Okay…” Josh finally gave in, though he watched her worriedly. “Just… watch your back. Be careful.”

“Okay, Mom,” North muttered, rolling her eyes.

He was back a couple days later. He started waiting for her when she got off. She bought pepper spray, she beat the shit out of him a few more times, she finally even called the police - a few times. He just kept showing up.

She didn’t mention him to Josh again, but she knew he knew something was up. It wasn’t like his emotions, filling the whole house, but they’d lived together for a while now and he wasn’t dumb. He just watched her get more and more tense, distracted, on edge. She was losing sleep, she got stressed and irritable over little things. More than usual.

Josh tried to talk about it, but she refused or mumbled some obvious lie and changed the subject. And he felt how her stress was building, how much she was bottling up.

She’d told him to leave her alone that night, and he could tell when she fell asleep.

He could definitely tell the sharp change in the air when she woke up.

The chill when she heard a noise in the kitchen below, the lurch, the…

_No._

He had been so attuned to her, he hadn’t been paying attention to the intruder. Josh didn’t know the man, and North hadn’t even seen him, but he knew that she knew who it was. Her dread filled him and it was… familiar. It was like that night fifty years ago when his home had been invaded, when his neighbors had come for him.

This would not, under any circumstances, happen to her.

It was almost too easy in the kitchen. One minute the man was creeping towards the living room, the next minute an unearthly howl sounded and every utensil, every tool, every hard object in the house whirled around him in an ever-growing maelstrom. The knives were right at face level, and dipped in and out in unpredictable motions.

“She told you to leave,” the fury echoed in the man’s head. “To leave her alone, and you kept coming. Others got involved, you persisted. And now you trespass on our land, you pursue her in her own home? How did you think this would end!?”

The man was cringing away from the storm when North raced down the steps and froze as she slid around to face the kitchen. There was a whirlwind of cutlery, and a dark vortex floating closer and closer to it. For a second she was frozen - she knew who it was.

“You don’t want to see this,” Josh whispered, sounding distant and indistinct.

“…You don’t want to do this,” she murmured. “Hold him there, I’m calling the cops.”

“They didn’t do anything. They couldn’t keep you safe. I can end this for you.”

North was already pulling out her phone, shakily dialing 911. “You’re not a killer.”

The vortex faded slightly, the utensils shivered.

“You’re not. You hate that. Hold him there, Josh.”

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“I called you fuckers over and over about this shit-head, and you didn’t do a damn thing!” North screamed at the officer who had pulled her aside while two more brought the intruder outside, handcuffed. “I told you he was stalking me, I told you I was scared he’d hurt me, and you let this happen!”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, we -”

“No, I don’t wanna hear it! I want that asshole locked up, I want a lifetime restraining order - and you’d better get him checked out, he wrecked my kitchen then screamed about poltergeists or some shit!”

“We’ll take care of it, ma’am.”

“Oh, right, like you took care of it before?” She stepped up in his face, causing him to back up a step. “I know people at Stratford, I know they’d love a first-hand account of your laziness and incompetence! Get out of my house!”

When the last car pulled away outside, North sank down in a chair, clenching her shaking hands. She didn’t see Josh, but she knew he was there.

“I wanted him dead,” she admitted softly.

“I would have killed him,” Josh whispered.

“I - I didn’t want you to. You’re - you get so worked up over… people getting hurt. And especially here…”

“I would have done it.” He materialized, staring at the floor.

“I couldn’t let you.”

“I… wanted to. To keep you safe.”

“Me too. But you’re not a killer.”

“I… I think I could be…” His voice was shaking. Was the house shaking, or was it her imagination?

North reached out to him. Her hand was definitely shaking. “Anybody could be. But you’re not. You stopped. You held him.”

“If it wasn’t for you -”

“If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have come here. We wouldn’t have been in this situation.”

“That… that’s what’s been bothering you.” He stepped forward, hands wrapping around hers with an odd tingly pressure.

“Yeah. I… was dealing with it.” She paused. “Not well, but I thought I could handle it.”

“You shouldn’t have had to handle it alone.”

“Well… I didn’t in the end.” She smiled faintly at him.

“I wish you’d told me. After the first time, I mean.”

“Wouldn’t’ve done any good.”

“I could have listened. I could have offered suggestions.” He sighed, settling next to her.

“It wouldn’t…” She paused. “I guess you’re right. I… sorry.”

“…I almost killed a man,” Josh whispered.

“But you didn’t. …And it wasn’t even a fight to stop you. You’re not some dangerous, out of control… killer ghost. You got mad, but you were in control the whole time.”

“That’s more power than I want,” he confessed softly.

“Ever done that before?”

“N-no. I - I did get upset when your friends were talking. That one time.”

“Sure, but nothing happened. You’ve got a handle on things.”

“With you to help me.”

“Well… sure. That’s what friends do, Josh.”

He slumped down in his seat. “I’m just glad nothing happened to you.”

“Glad you’re okay, too.” She stretched and flopped down on the couch. “I’m staying home tomorrow - today. I just want to sleep all day.”

“That's probably a good idea.”

“Will you… stay close?”

“Of course.” She felt the tingling pressure on her shoulder and closed her eyes, finally beginning to relax.


End file.
